Russia to American dream

the third round of the 2019 French Open, Kenin’s deepest run at a Grand Slam tournament until this week, that helped provide a boost that keeps propelling her forward.

She won her first three tourlevel titles last season and cracked the top 20. This, though, is whole new territory.

Kenin might have been overlooked by some before, when younger Americans such as

15-year-old Coco Gauff and

18-year-old Amanda Anisimova were making deep runs at majors and gaining all the attention.

But other players knew what Kenin could do.

And so, certainly, did she. She proved it by coming back from a set down to eliminate Gauff in the fourth round this week; by erasing four set points while getting past current No 1 and reigning French Open champion Ash Barty in the semifinals; by ignoring that she was ‘‘absolutely devastated’’ after losing the opening set against Muguruza.

Her forehands and backhands are reliable, her drop shots and lobs are terrific, her ball-retrieval is top-class.

What does Kenin consider her best attribute on a tennis court?

‘‘The fight in me,’’ she said. ‘‘I feel like that’s something you can’t teach. I feel like you’ve got to have that. You’ve got to have that belief and the passion.’’

She often refers to Serena Williams as her idol but says she ‘‘copied a few people’’ for various aspects of her playing style.

‘‘I’ve looked up to Maria Sharapova, Anna Kournikova. I followed their matches when I was little. I feel like I got the ‘feisty’. I saw what it’s like,’’ Kenin said.

‘‘Yeah, I feel like that helped me. I have part of the Russian stuff inside me, [the] fight and fierce that I have. Trying just to be confident, do what I do best,’’ she said, before adding: ‘‘And thank you to my parents for giving me the American dream.’’

That racket Kenin was swinging – and sometimes dropping, even kicking, out of frustration after bad points – against Muguruza?

It was painted red, white and blue.